1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in a conveyor system which utilizes trolleys to transport hanging merchandise, such as garments, said improvements relating to automatic batching, accumulating and individually dispersing features.
2. Prior Art
Conveyor systems employing an upper driving track and a lower riding track are well known in the art for use in transporting hanging goods, such as garments, in retail, manufacture and storage warehouse facilities. The conveyor systems are designed for moving large quantities of merchandise from one point in a storage warehouse to other points within that warehouse for various purposes. For example, after a new shipment of goods is received at the warehouse, they may be immediately placed on the conveyor system and dispatched to a storage location. Later, those goods may be placed back onto the conveyor system and transported to dispatch points for checking, marking, packaging or for other purposes. In most prior art devices, the individual trolleys are automatically dispatched throughout the entire conveyor system. In these prior art systems the trolleys are driven along the lower track by a unique pair of drive capturing dogs which trap the end of the trolley therebetween and drive it throughout the system. The drive capturing dogs are normally spaced apart, in a longitudinal direction by a distance of approximately 10 feet. This spacing enables the individual trolleys to be: dispatched at various points, placed onto the system, and transported up or down inclines.
One problem encountered in prior art conveyor systems is that it is not possible to introduce a large group of trolleys into the conveyor system at one time, but instead the trolleys must be handled individually into the system. Thus, if a train of trolleys is ready to be placed on the system for distribution to various points, an operator is required to individually place each trolley on the system whenever a free pair of drive capturing dogs is available. These systems are very inefficient because of the large areas of unused space in the conveyor and because of the inability to batch handle large groups of trolleys. If more than one trolley is placed onto the system without individually being captured by a unique pair of dogs, the trolleys will bind and knock each other from the track whenever an incline, decline or accumulation point is reached. Thus, it becomes imperative that an operator individually place trolleys onto the system.
Some prior art systems employ automatic feed-in devices. These devices enable a number of trolleys to be placed on a separate line which is declined so as to provide an accumulation of trolleys to the automatic feeder. The feeder places trolleys onto the system one at a time as the drive capturing dogs become available. However the problems in this system are; that separate trolley lines are required for the automatic feeder system; the device is very expensive; and the basic conveyor system is still inefficient in its space utilization.
The present invention solves these problems and provides a device which allows, batch feeding onto the conveyor system from any point along the conveyor, provides for train-like end to end transportation of the trolleys in the conveyor system, permits stopped accumulation of the trolleys within the conveyor system and allows for individual dispatching of the trolleys from the system at distribution points.